New to the Forum - Need Advice on Boat Purchase

[LakeSurfer 10]

Duffy,

 

Have you heard about Olinger Marine? There in Rathdrum which I believe is an hour south of Sandpoint.

 

Also, what would you consider is a fair price for the 2004 Avalanche? Here's another link to the boat:

 

http://www.olingermarine.com/new_vehicle_d...amp;pov=1872652

 

I still have a lot to learn about this sport. The last thing I want is too be upside down on my first boat at day of purchase.

 

Thanks.

 

Paul

 

 

Paul,

 

I bought my 08 Avy from Adam (owner of Olinger) when his place was in California. He is a good guy to work with and his boats are generally very nice for the $. It is generally pretty hard to find better pricing because he is a volume guy (ie. sells a ton of boats at lower margin) I think that it its a fair price if the interior is clean. Does it have Perfect Pass? If not, maybe you can get them to add it for you. If you are going to run a lot of weight, you will also need a new prop (we are all running upgraded props).

 

Good luck!

 

EDIT: Take Duffy up on his offer to go look at it and have a mechanic take a look at it as well.

Edited October 26, 2010 by LakeSurfer

[pdhj1990 2]

Does anyone have any experience with Olinger Marine? I've been pleased thus far with the owner's profesionalism, however I'd appreciate any additional insight.

 

Thanks.

 

Paul

[pdhj1990 2]

Lakesurfer,

I appreciate your feedback. It really helps.

I'll follow up with Duffy on his offer. Howver, I may have to close the deal before next week.

Did you have your boat inspected before purchase, or was it a new model?

 

Thanks.

 

Paul

[LakeSurfer 10]

Lakesurfer,

I appreciate your feedback. It really helps.

I'll follow up with Duffy on his offer. Howver, I may have to close the deal before next week.

Did you have your boat inspected before purchase, or was it a new model?

 

Thanks.

 

Paul

 

Mine was new, so it came with a 3 yr warranty. I did not even see mine until it was delivered to my house in TX from CA. If I was buying used, I would have it inspected for sure.

 

Also, I just noticed you are in Prosper, TX. The SunNFun guys have an 06 Avy for sale at $32K (http://www.boattrader.com/listing/2006-CENTURION-Avalanche-C-4-Storm-97549200) with Perfect Pass. If you could get it for $30K that would be a great price and it would have Perfect Pass and you wont have to pay for shipping (which by the time you buy PP and pay for shipping the Olinger Marine one will be about that much).

Edited October 26, 2010 by LakeSurfer

[duffymahoney 10]

Have a compression test done, have the codes pulled from the engine. Do you know what engine it is? If you are looking to surf I wouldn't personally get a 315 hp motor. I would get the 330hp black scorpion engine. The 315hp motor is a little small, I have a little trouble with a large crew.

[enzo101mo 98]

Like Lakesurf said; I also bought my boat through Adam when he was in Paso Robles, CA. He gave me a great deal on my Enzo back in 2005 and yes he likes to get them in and push them out the door, He is a volume dealer. If you need to finance it he'll help you on that to.

 

That boat looks very clean and well kept up, 160 hours is not bad. I have about 200hours and looks like it just came off the showroom floor.

 

Did you go and check it out yet? knowing Adam that boat won't last to long on the market.

[cjohnson 33]

Does anyone have any experience with Olinger Marine? I've been pleased thus far with the owner's profesionalism, however I'd appreciate any additional insight.

 

Thanks.

 

Paul

Hey Paul,

I live in Canada and was looking for a good price on a boat earlier this year. A lot of the boats at Olinger are repo's so you should take that into consideration. They may do a complete inspection but even still you should consider how someone would treat a boat if they knew it was going to get repo'd. You can save a few thousand dollars but need to be willing to take on some risk.

 

Here's a link to a website where a bunch of the repo's come from: http://www.auctionpipeline.com/

You can set up an account and browse for free but only bonded dealers can bid and see post sale prices.

 

In the spring I hired Harlow at Bellingham Boat Land to find me a repo boat. They ask for a $3500 deposit (refundable) and then they will email you pics of boats you can bid on at an auction. They will charge 10% above their cost if you buy one. There's still some risk but most boats have a mechanical inspection done - Bellingham won't buy one without an inspection. I bid on a few boats but prices went up quite a bit from late last year until spring and couldn't find one in my price range. They refunded my deposit with no questions and I found one out of a dealer in California.

 

Here's another great site to browse. It has all boats listed on cragslist and ebay in one site.

http://boat.jaxed.com/cgi-bin/boat.cgi?cat...turion&fil=

 

Cheers

Cliff

[pdhj1990 2]

Cliff,

 

Those are great links. Also, I appreciate your informing me that Olinger's boats are mostly repos.

 

Another forum member has offered to take a look at one of Olingers boats later this week. However, now that I know they're mostly repos, I'm a little gun shy.

 

I learned a hard lesson with a restored 1972 Corvette Stingray. Although the car had a body off restoration, I later learned that some of the work performed by the former owner was lacking

 

I paid $18,000 for the car, and then I spent another $12,000 making it right. Needless to say, the cars value in this market was about $20,000 to $24,000. I recently sold the car for $20,000 = costly lesson.

 

I can already tell I'm going to enjoy connecting with other Centurion boat owners via this forum. Thanks again for the info.

 

 

Paul

[Bigcatpt 408]

Cliff,

 

Those are great links. Also, I appreciate your informing me that Olinger's boats are mostly repos.

 

Another forum member has offered to take a look at one of Olingers boats later this week. However, now that I know they're mostly repos, I'm a little gun shy.

 

I learned a hard lesson with a restored 1972 Corvette Stingray. Although the car had a body off restoration, I later learned that some of the work performed by the former owner was lacking

 

I paid $18,000 for the car, and then I spent another $12,000 making it right. Needless to say, the cars value in this market was about $20,000 to $24,000. I recently sold the car for $20,000 = costly lesson.

 

I can already tell I'm going to enjoy connecting with other Centurion boat owners via this forum. Thanks again for the info.

 

 

Paul

 

Spend a few hundred bucks and fly down there and take a look at it yourself. Its silly to buy something that expensive sight unseen. Have a look, take it for a test drive and if you like it, make a deal. Then there are no surprises. Just think if the few hundred bucks spent on the trip as "insurance". Maybe you can hook up with Duffy while you are there and check out the boat together. I would value his opinion.... dude knows his stuff. But for whats its worth I have only heard good things about Olinger marine. But with the possibility of it being a repo I would want to have a look with my own 2 eyes! Even if its not a repo i want to see it and drive it before I sign on that dotted line..... Just my .02 cents worth....

[pdhj1990 2]

Bigcat,

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

Also, for the past eight years, several friends and I have skied Alta, Snowbird, Solitude and Dear Valley. Although we enjoy Colorado, the snow in Utah is simply "Outstanding". The people in Utah are also most friendly - Great State.

 

Thanks again.

 

Paul

[Kevin Baugh 78]

Paul I sent you a pm reply about my Enzo 216 it is still for sale and

you can see pictures here

 

and here

 

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creati...Photos-_-Sharer

 

my email is krbaugh1@yahoo.com

[cjohnson 33]

Spend a few hundred bucks and fly down there and take a look at it yourself. Its silly to buy something that expensive sight unseen. Have a look, take it for a test drive and if you like it, make a deal. Then there are no surprises. Just think if the few hundred bucks spent on the trip as "insurance". Maybe you can hook up with Duffy while you are there and check out the boat together. I would value his opinion.... dude knows his stuff. But for whats its worth I have only heard good things about Olinger marine. But with the possibility of it being a repo I would want to have a look with my own 2 eyes! Even if its not a repo i want to see it and drive it before I sign on that dotted line..... Just my .02 cents worth....

I totally agree with you. I don't think Olinger is doing anything wrong in reselling repo's as long as they're disclosing where they came from and what's been done for inspections or test drives. Any boat you buy could have issues (even if it's brand new) so an inspection or test drive should be done. That said, I guess I'm being a bit of a hypocrite because I bought my boat sight unseen. The dealer was very upfront about the the history and condition of the boat - they took it in on trade two years ago and had a hard time selling it after the economy turned. He used it for surfing and put about 15 hrs on it. I've never had such great service - they winterized the boat, wrapped it and arranged for shipping after we struck a deal on price.

 

By the way, thanks for putting up the blog on your ballast install - it's a huge help. I just picked up most of the parts for plumbing in mine and I used a bunch of your ideas. It'll be a setup for wakeboarding or surfing with 3 fatsacs. I'll post pics when it's done.

 

Cheers

Cliff

[Bigcatpt 408]

Bigcat,

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

Also, for the past eight years, several friends and I have skied Alta, Snowbird, Solitude and Dear Valley. Although we enjoy Colorado, the snow in Utah is simply "Outstanding". The people in Utah are also most friendly - Great State.

 

Thanks again.

 

Paul

 

The "advice" about looking at a boat before buying it was was not directed at you or anyone in particular. Just throwing it out there as good basic principles if your gonna drop that kinda coin on something....

 

And yes Utah rocks for great snow!!! The resorts already have 30 inches after this last weekend and some are planning on opening in 2 weeks. It won't be good til after Thanksgiving but it is shaping up to be a good year! And thanks for the compliment on the locals being friendly. We think we have a great state with so many great outdoor recreation opportunities and we are OK with sharing it with the world. Plenty of pow pow to go around!

[Bigcatpt 408]

I totally agree with you. I don't think Olinger is doing anything wrong in reselling repo's as long as they're disclosing where they came from and what's been done for inspections or test drives. Any boat you buy could have issues (even if it's brand new) so an inspection or test drive should be done. That said, I guess I'm being a bit of a hypocrite because I bought my boat sight unseen. The dealer was very upfront about the the history and condition of the boat - they took it in on trade two years ago and had a hard time selling it after the economy turned. He used it for surfing and put about 15 hrs on it. I've never had such great service - they winterized the boat, wrapped it and arranged for shipping after we struck a deal on price.

 

By the way, thanks for putting up the blog on your ballast install - it's a huge help. I just picked up most of the parts for plumbing in mine and I used a bunch of your ideas. It'll be a setup for wakeboarding or surfing with 3 fatsacs. I'll post pics when it's done.

 

Cheers

Cliff

 

 

I think there are some great deals to be had on repo's out there that have not been abused. So just because its a repo I would not shy away from it but rather take a closer look.

 

And your welcome for the ballast install blog. It was fun to do and has helped a few people. Let me know if you have any questions or need anything when you get doing your install. And take pics!

[enzo101mo 98]

Pdhj1990:

I have an orignal 1972 Corvette and i am the second owner. It's all orignal even the paint and I score the paint from 1 to 10 an give it an 8. Bought back in 1983 and had it since.

 

 

As for Adam at Olinger's I don't think he sell a boat that was not up to par, because his lively hood dependes on people like us to make his living. I go check it out and make him take you out for a test drive. That boat looks to clean and well kept up to be bad.

[pdhj1990 2]

Great posts - great insight - great advice. Thanks

 

Paul

[Joe B 17]

Good looking boat. I'd personnally would fly up and water test. Airfare is pretty cheap now.

 

Start researching what prop to get on that boat for surfing. Find out what the drive ratio is, probably 1:1. Duffy and bigcapt should be able to direct you. Changing props was the best mod I've done, completely changed the holeshot.

 

Have fun with it.

[duffymahoney 10]

I have been talking to him via messages and I honestly don't think the Avalanche is for him.

 

Here is his list.

 

Room for 8 - 10 is critical

Getting out of the hole is important

Top speed is not as important - hopefully the boat will go at least 45 mph. As noted above, if it were up to me I'd buy a boat that could hit at least 60 to 65 mph

Waterskiing and wakeboarding are a tie, however I'm pretty certain with time my kids will choose wakeboarding over waterskiing

Tubing will also be important

Surfing could also be interesting

Does suck too much gas, however as you can see this is as the bottom of the list

 

I would say something not super deep v would be better. I would think maybe a centurion Falcon, Sanger V215, Tige 22v, Etc... would be better then the avalanche. I honestly wouldn't buy the avalanche if you had waterskiing in mind. Even my stock wake is still pretty big and meaty. Room for 8-10 screams a 24 foot boat to me. 8-10 in my avy is super packed.

[h20king 794]

the falcon is huge inside 8-10 people no problem also an Enzo 216 or 220 would fit the bill Kevin B has a loaded Enzo 220 for sale both the falcon and the enzo have more room than the avy not sure how centurion did it it could be the extra 2" in the beam but both are shorter and have more room than the avy both have a better wakeboard wake the ski wake flattens out fairly well at speed and both will put out a decent surf wake not on par with the avy as far as surfing goes as its surf wave is world class but both out shine the avy when it comes to the other sports one other thing that should be mentioned is the Avy will have a better rough water ride not that the falcon or the 216 or 220 enzo have a bad ride just not as smooth as the deeper v boats.check this one out I'm sure Kevin is ready to deal hope this helps and happy shoping...................H http://www.centurioncrew.com/Sale-2007-Enz...-220-t1575.html

here is a pic of the room inside the falcon so you can get an idea how much interior space the falcon or Enzo will have

[h20king 794]

http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/boa/2029987385.html

here is a great deal on a falcon that is well optioned but given the choice for about the same money I would buy Kevins Enzo JMTC..........H